The small strip of land between Egypt and Israel known
as the Gaza Strip, has been a battleground in the ongoing
Arab-Israeli Conflict since the 1940s. After the 1st
Arab-Israeli War ended in 1949, Egypt annexed Gaza. In
the 1956 and 1967 wars between Israel and Egypt, Israeli
forces conquered the crowded urban Gaza area, returning
it to Egyptian control after the 1956
war, but keeping it after the 1967 war. The
peace treaty between Egypt and Israel effectively ceded
control of Gaza to Israel, but Gaza became a battleground
in the Palestinian uprising against Israel known as The
Intifada in the late 1980s. This uprising led to the
peace agreement known as the Oslo Accords. Under this
treaty, the Palestinian Authority (Palestinian government
dominated by the Fatah movement), took over the
administrative authority of the Gaza Strip (other than
the established Israeli settlements and military areas)
in 1994.

2006 Gaza
Conflict

In the summer of 2005, Israel unilaterally
evacuated its last military outposts in the Gaza Strip,
hoping that would ease ongoing tensions with the
Palestinian forces in Gaza. On June 25, 2006, Palestinian
militants crossed from Gaza into Israel, kidnapping an
Israeli soldier. Israel responded on June 29 with an
invasion of the Gaza Strip. This campaign continued until
Nov. 26, 2006, with a cease-fire. Despite the cease-fire,
Palestinian rockets have been launched with some
regularity into Israel, with Israel often responding with
air and missile attacks on Gazan targets.

2007 Palestininian
Civil War in Gaza

In June of 2007, a short civil war between the two
main Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, resulted in
the expulsion of Fatah forces from Gaza. Hamas
is considered the more militant of the two groups, and
Hamas does not recognize Israel's right to exist and
seeks to reclaim all Palestinian lands from Israel.

2007–2008 Gaza
Conflict

This stage of the ongoing warfare in Gaza consisted of
a series of battles between Palestinian militants and the
Israel Defense Forces beginning in mid-May of 2007.
Palestinian forces fired more than 220 home-made Qassam
rockets at the Israel town of Sderot and the western
Negev region over the span of a week. The Israeli
warplanes responded with air-to-ground missiles and bomb,
targeting Hamas military and political infrastructure
targets. On February 29, Israeli ground forces entered
Gaza, killing nearly 100 Hamas militants. Israel also
halted the transfer of electricity, fuel, and other
supplies into Gaza in an attempt to weaken Hamas. Despite
all attempts at contolling the violence, Hamas forces
continued to launch missile attacks at Israel. It must be
noted that Hamas, like the Hezbollah army in Lebanon, is
allied with, and supplied by, Iran, which is a declared
enemy of Israel. In June of 2008, Egypt, acting as the
go-between, managed to arrange a cease-fire between
Israel and Hamas. This cease-fire was broken several
times by both sides, but largely brought a measure of
peace to the Israel-Gaza border. Israel maintained closed
borders with Gaza, hoping to pressure the Hamas regime
economically. While Israel indicated a willingness to
extend the cease-fire, Hamas began increasing its Qassem
rocket attacks on Israel, forcing the Israeli government
to make a decision on how to respond.

On December 27, 2008, Israeli forces launched a major
air attack on Hamas political and military targets in
Gaza. Early reports indicate that between 200 and 255
Palestinians died on the first day of the attacks. News
reports also indicated that Israeli ground forces were
moving toward the Gaza border. Hamas forces responded
with more Qassem rocket attacks, with some newer,
longer-range rockets reaching the Israeli cities of
Ashkelon and Ashdod.

Mid East analysts view the massive Israeli response as
a means of showing its enemies that Israel is still a
military force to be reckoned with. After losing the
Second Lebanon
War in 2006, Israel felt that Hezbollah, Hamas, and
their Iranian patrons no longer feared Israel. Ever since
independence in 1948, Israel has existed surrounded by
enemies and literally has fought nearly continuous wars
along its borders ever since. To many Israelis, appearing
weak, or acting weak in front of its mortal foes only
invites further attacks. Thus, while the Qassem rocket
attacks are a real danger to the quarter-million or so
Israelis within range of the Gaza border, these Hamas
rockets pose no immenent threat to Israel's existence. By
responding so forcefully, Israel hopes to ward off other
enemies whose attacks could be more deadly, in
particular, Iran, who its developing nuclear
ambitions.

The timing of Israel's attacks is rather interesting,
but actually somewhat predictable. It is no secret that
President George W. Bush is a fervent ally of Israel, and
the Dec. 27 attacks began as President Bush had only 24
more days as President of the United States. Both in the
media and in the United Nations, the United States under
the Bush Administration has been an unwavering ally and
supporter of Israel, blocking key votes in the UN, which
called for a cease-fire. Unsure of how the incoming Obama
Administration may perceive an attack on Hamas, Israel
likely decided to act to secure its southern border while
their good friend George W. Bush was still in office and
able to provide moral and diplomatic assistance.

As of January 5, United Nations officials, as well as
media outlets estimate that the Gaza War has seen 524
Palestinians killed and 2,600 wounded since the Israel
began "Operation Cast Lead" on December 27, the majority
of these casualties among members of Hamas security
forces, but at least 200 of the dead were civilians.
Israel reports one soldier and three civilians killed
since December 27, with 30 civilians wounded by Hamas
rocket attacks. Israeli artillery joined in the attacks
on January 3, 2009. Despite the massive air attacks,
Hamas was still able to launch over 400 rockets and
missiles into southern Israel. It became apparent that
air power alone would not achieve the stated Israeli goal
of halting the cross-border attacks by Hamas upon
Israel's civilian population.

On January 3, thousands of Israeli troops, in three
brigade-size formations, backed by tanks and attack
helicopters, launched the expected ground invasion of the
Gaza Strip in what Israel calls the "second stage of
Operation Cast Lead." The Israeli military reported 30
soldiers received wounds in the opening hours of the
offensive, and also reported "dozens" of cas ualties
among the defending Hamas forces. It was also reported
that Israeli naval vessels assisted with the invasion,
providing fire into the Gaza Strip in support of ground
troops.

By the end of the first day of the ground offensive,
Israel announced that its forces had bisected the Gaza
Strip and surrounded the city of Gaza. Heavy combat war
also reported near the northern Gaza towns of Beit
Lahiya, Beit Hanun and Jabaliya.

On January 6, Israeli forces fired mortar rounds at
what they say was a launching area for Hamas rockets. The
Israeli mortar shells struck a United Nations-run school
at which hundreds of Palestinian civilians had taken
shelter. The UN reported approximately 40 dead civilians
in this attack. The bombing of the school brought a large
amount of criticism on Israel from around the world.
Though Israel justified the attack by claiming Hamas
launched rockets from that area, Israel took a hit in
terms of world public opinion.

On January 8, Hezbollah forces launched rockets into
Israel from Lebanon, raising the possibility of a second
front in the new war.

Israeli troops pushed into a heavily populated area of
Gaza City from the south on January 11 in hard fighting,
in which Israeli and Hamas forces engaged in vicious
unconventional asymmetrical warfare house to house, and
street by street.

On January 17, Israeli announced a unilateral
ceasefire, deciding to halt operations without first
securing an agreement with Hamas.

The next day, January 18, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and
other Palestinian militia groups declared they would halt
the launching of rockets into Israel for one week, while
demanding that Israel withdraw from Gaza within the
week.

2011 Gaza Conflict: Hamas
Rockets and Israeli Responses

In 2011, the more-or-less quiet Gaza front exploded
into action as Israel responded to a resumption of Hamas
rocket attacks into Israel.

On August 18, 2011, squads of heavily-armed Popular
Resistance Committee (PRC) guerrillas from Gaza travelled
about 120 miles through Egyptian Sinai to attack Israeli
citizens near the southern Israeli city of Eilat, killing
eight Israelis. Israel retaliated with airstrikes on
targets inside Gaza. The PRC is a relatively small
Palestinian resistance group that has at times served as
an ally of Hamas. See also

This
map from Unosat
presents a preliminary situation of the
reported attacks by Israeli and Hamas forces
from 25-30 December 2008, within and
surrounding the Gaza Strip. Damage locations
have been taken exclusively from open media
sources. Many recorded damage sites shown are
approximate and may not represent all known
incident locations.